I had forgotten that. Robert Young in "Father Knows Best" drove an el-cheapo '57 Ford. Perry Mason drove a '57 Ford retractable hardtop in the first season of the show. One seldom sees a '57 Ford nowadays, especially the low-line models. You never did tell us what car Fred Rutherford drove........

I'm guessing it was a Chrysler four door hardtop, but I don't know that for sure. The '61 Plymouth in "Beaver" stood out because it was a four door hardtop. I've never seen one in real life.

I'm pretty sure Young had a Mercury in the earlier episodes, a '54 I believe. The ford that the Cleavers had in the first season was at least of the same appearance as the one in which Janet Leigh was pushed off into the swamp in Psycho. They were both filmed at the same studio. If I remember correctly. for the first few episodes on Mason, he drove a '58 Cadillac convertible, followed by the retractable. I guess they tried for who would give the best goodies on product placement. I can think of only one episode of LITB that Rutherford was driving, and that was when Wally And Eddie were parking valets for some unfortunates' wedding.

Someone around here has a 61 Dodge Polara I have been seeing it more when the roads are dry and salt free. A white 2 door hardtop. Unusual tail lights they come out the side of the rear quarter panel. The Dart had different tail lights.

Sure enough. The first picture is a 1957, the second picture is a 1958. The teller? Quad headlamps on the '58 and bigger "Dagmars" on the '57. There is a 1963 episode that has Perry driving a '63 Electra convertible, but it is allegedly a rented car. I learn something from "Mr. Trivia" on a regular basis. Thanks, 75.

The 1957 thru 1959 models would be full of rust here in AZ. I have seen cars in salvage yards with parts buried in the ground that the paint was still good on. Chrysler cars would rust in places other cars never would have. The door hinges would rust off. The body seams would all be full of rust. You needed to plan on replacing the entire floor in convertibles, even for southwest cars. I have not done enough Chryslers of that vintage to know exactly why they had such a proclivity to rust. Junky metal and poor rust protection, certainly, but there had to be other reasons.

Yep. Metal quality, paint or undercoating, and drainage. I had an '02 Jeep TJ (Wrangler) that held plenty of water in the bottom of the windshield frame. Also, the main chassis frame under the vehicle has all the normal water inlets on the sides of the box beams, but no drain holes in the bottoms. Those Jeeps are famous for needing major frame member replacements.